THANKS 2013

for helping us grow, together as a family & on our own. thanks for the ups & downs that helped us realize what we really want from life. for giving us our little babe who has made us happier than we ever could have imagined. for taking us on roadtrips. leading us to 7 different states & 2 different countries. all of the adventures we've encountered. for teaching me that i'm stronger than i have ever thought, emotionally & phsycially. for our safety. for the opportunities that we've been given that have placed us where we are in life. thanks for being one of the greatest years yet. thanks 2013, i really liked you.

A HAPPY CHRISTMAS


this year was such a different christmas experience & i really loved it.

we spent christmas with austins family. all of his siblings were in town & went to his parents for christmas eve dinner, the kids put on the nativity (cedar got to be baby jesus!) & played games. we spend the night at there house & woke up the next morning for stockings & i made thinnies for breakfast before going to his siblings houses. i had so much fun being with his family & seeing what they do for christmas & their family traditions! 
austin, cedar & i celebrated our christmas on christmas eve.
we woke up, turned on christmas music, opened presents, had magic pancakes for breakfast, & watched the santa claus. i loved it. our first year celebrating as our own little family. & even though cedar has no idea what christmas even is, it was so fun seeing him interested in what was going on around him
(& yes, cedar did wear skeleton pj's on christmas eve)

FROM US TO YOU

WE MOVED

this isn't the first place we lived in since being married, but it's the first place our little family was in & we have officially moved out. in the midst of finals & holidays, we began to move & as of yesterday, we are 100% out. we cleaned it up & left our keys. 
we moved from provo up to cottonwood into my mom's house she has that my family uses when they visit utah. we couldn't be more grateful or excited that she's letting us live here. we decided to move so we can hopefully save more money to move out of state come august.
& we both wanted to leave provo to do something different. both of us had lived in provo for a really long time & it just sounded fun to move. plus, we only go to school two days a week, & there's a frontrunner station right by where we live. so it all works out wonderfully. 
it's been an extremely hectic few weeks with everything going on. but i'm so happy to be done with moving. & now we can just enjoy the holidays. which is all i want to do. i've put a ban on all tv watching unless it's a christmas movie. i'm dedicated.
here are pictures i took yesterday of our last time being in our little home.
 ps: anyone looking for friends in our area, i promise we're fun

I'M HOOKED

on bikram.
i've wanted to try bikram yoga for a while now, & i finally have & i love it.
my father-in-law was getting a pass & joined me & my sister-in-law up for the buddy pass promo
(best f.i.l. ever, right? right) i've only been a few times so far, finals were really getting in the way of my bikram time,
but now that those are out of the way, i'm planning/hoping to go so much more. 
bikram truly makes me feel so great. i'm loving it & couldn't be more thankful for my father-in-law thinking to sign me up. i've been going early in the morning & it's a perfect way to start my day. 
if you don't know about bikram, let me tell you.
you practice 26 different poses two times each, in a 105 degree room with 40% humidity
 it's an hour & a half long. 
your entire body gets such an awesome workout/stretch, it's designed to target all joints, muscles and tendons.
this combined with the heat really helps to get into the stretches deeper & with flexibility too. 
plus, you burn about 1,000 calories each class depending on your body type.
it's completely different than other yoga classes i've been to. it's a such a different workout
i feel so rejuvenated afterwards
 & cleansed of any bad toxins that are in my body.
if you've ever wanted to try it, you definitely should. i wish i hadn't waited so long.
if you're in utah, i go to brickyard in lehi & they're doing an awesome $21 for 21 days deal
which is such a steal. & if you've got a friend, there's always the buddy pass.
 if you decide to try it, bring a towel. 

TODAY

      there's nothing quite as sweet
      as being able to sleep in & being surprised
      with a bagel, tea for breakfast & flowers
      by your husband,
      after you stayed awake till
      the early hours of morning, writing
      one of your finals.
      & no better way to spend a day
      than playing with a cute baby in between
      napping & writing more finals.

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

last night was the 3rd annual girl cousin party.
i love this party & get so excited for it. my cousins are all
such fun, creative & amazing ladies & we definitely all get together enough.
so when we do, i love it. 
we all bring delicious food,
talk & talk & talk,
whitney teaches us yoga,
& we all bring our favorite things, 10$ or under,
for a gift exchange. 
& this is what i brought as my gift
rifle co. notebook- first off, i love all rifle co. products. but i especially love their notebooks. they make perfect little notebooks that come in a set of three (i just gave one of the three) that are all adorable & the perfect size. i love these to fill with quotes & make sort of a mini version of my books.
lush bathbomb- if you have never used one, that needs to change. i'm completely obsessed. when i was pregnant i got really into taking baths & i developed a love for these bathbombs. there are so many different kinds, with different purposes & scents. some come with little things inside, some have glitter & different items that come out when it's in the water. they smell delicious, & make your skin feel so, so soft. i don't take a bath without one now. my absolute favorite is their butterball. go get one, it will change your skins life.
eos chapstick- i'm sure you've all seen these at target, but if you haven't ever tried one, buy one! i love this thing. at first i thought it was really weird, i mean, it's a giant circle chapstick... very impractical. but i've become obsessed with it. & i might be a complete weirdo, but i use it the same way everytime so it's molded perfectly to my lips & i love that it has. austin likes to tell me he's going to ruin it & use it the opposite direction, but so far, it hasn't happened. luckily. but really, i've had this chapstick for a long time. probably the longest i've gone without losing a chapstick, i think its because of the shape. its also lasted for such a long time. & i have to admit, i'm really interested to see what happens when i get to the end of the chapstick.

so if you're looking for easy, cheap, last minute gifts for any ladies in your life, 
these are a few of my favorite things!

RIGHT THIS MINUTE

i am
hearing: flaming lips- going on
drinking: dr. pepper
wanting: finals to be over!
deciding: if i really do want to go back to school after i graduate
craving: pineapple
waiting: for christmas break to go snowboarding, see family & hawaii
dreaming: about our trip to sweden this summer
looking: at the mi casa board on my pinterest and daydreaming what our future dream house would look like
watching: austin pretending to do homework, but actually looking up what he wants for christmas
thinking: how much i love christmas & how great this video is
& this is how i feel right about now.
which after this weekend, i feel it's appropriate.
>>>we lost the only set of keys to my car.
luckily they were turned in to the schools lost & found the next day.
but it was stressful.
>>>we started packing & moving, which is a pain no matter what.
but we're almost done so that's nice.
>>>i realized i bought the wrong sized lids for the moving boxes
& of course, target didn't have the ones we need in stock. 
oops.
>>>my car died right after completely filling it with stuff for d.i.
talk about annoying.
>>>practically everything started flashing on austins dash in his car
& now will not always turn on. it's a bit temperamental. 
>>> naturally, all of this would happen the weekend before finals.

6 MONTHS OLD

this little guy of mine is  s i x  months old today & i can't believe it.
seriously, time flies when you have a baby. he is so much fun & learns something
new practically everyday, it's so cool to see. he's the happiest baby, we are seriously so lucky
i mean, we found out today that he has croup & an ear infection & he has still been the happiest guy around. he's hardly cried or anything. i mean, if it wasn't for his random sleep cough i probably really wouldn't have thought something was up... but luckily i did so now we can
make him better & get him healthy again.
he's still the cutest. 
at  s i x  months  cedar has:
2 lower teeth
18 lbs
rolls all over the place
& is really working on sitting up
can hold his own bottle
loves to be in his jumper
likes to try to bite everything
babbles & laughs constantly

A PLAYLIST

1. Just Like Christmas- low
2. Every Weekday- camera obscura
3. Santa Clause Is Coming To Town- mason jennings
4. I Wish it Was Christmas Today- julian casablancas
5. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree- she & him
6. Wonderful Christmastime- the shins
7. Everything is One big Christmas Tree- the magnetic fields
8. The Heartache Can Wait- brandi carlile
9. All My Bells are Ringing- lenka
10. Christmas- rogue wave
11. Blue Christmas- saturday looks good to me
12. No Christmas for Me- zee avi
13. The Blizzard- camera obscura
14. Auld Lang Syne- andrew bird
14. It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas- fruit bats
15. Christmas Windows- youth group
16. Winter Song- sara barielles & ingrid michaelson